LOCATION NOUQUE ORTentative Series
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid, shallow Xeric Haplodurids
TYPICAL PEDON: Nouque silt loam, range. (Colors are for dry soil unless otherwise noted.)
A1--0 to 2 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) silt loam, dark grayish brown (10YR 4/2) moist; moderate thick platy structure; soft, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine and fine roots; many very fine pores; mildly alkaline (pH 7.8); abrupt smooth boundary. (2 to 3 inches thick)
A2--2 to 7 inches; pale brown (10YR 6/3) silt loam, dark brown (10YR 3/3) moist; moderate thick platy structure; soft, friable, slightly sticky, slightly plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 7 inches thick)
Bw--7 to 11 inches; light brownish gray (10YR 6/2) clay loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate fine subangular blocky structure; slightly hard, firm, sticky, plastic; few very fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; moderately alkaline (pH 8.0); abrupt smooth boundary. (4 to 10 inches thick)
Bkqm--11 to 14 inches; indurated silica and calcium carbonate cemented duripan.
2C--14 to 60 inches; sand and gravel.
TYPE LOCATION: Malheur County, Oregon; NE1/4 SW1/4 section 31, T. 40 S., R. 43 E., 20 feet north of county road.
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS: The soils are usually dry and dry between 4 to 12 inches for more than 90 consecutive days following the summer solstice and moist for 60 days or more following the winter solstice. The solum is mildly to moderately alkaline. Depth to the duripan ranges from 10 to 20 inches. The profiles lack coarse fragments but some pedons have desert pavement of pebbles on surface.
The A horizon has value of 6 dry and 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 2 or 3 moist and dry.
The upper part of the B horizon has value of 6 dry and 3 or 4 moist, and chroma of 3 or 4 moist and dry. It is light clay loam or light silty clay loam with 27 to 35 percent clay and more than 15 percent coarser than very fine sand.
The duripan usually has a root mat at the contact surface with some roots following fractures. The top 1/2 inch is mostly silica with some thin streaks of calcium carbonates between lenses. Carbonates predominate below the top 1 or 2 inches.
COMPETING SERIES: These are the Umil and Veigle (T) series. These soils have less than 18 percent clay in the textural control section and are calcareous throughout.
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Nouque soils are on terraces and have slopes of 0 to 20 percent. Elevation is 4,500 to 5,300 feet. The soils are formed in lacustrine old lake materials with the surface reworked by wind. The climate is semiarid with a mean annual precipitation of 8 to 11 inches with hot dry summers and cold winters. The mean annual temperature is about 43 to 45 degrees F., the mean summer temperature is 57 degrees F., and the mean winter temperature is 32 degrees F. The frost-free period ranges from 50 to 80 days.
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: This is the Olson series. Olson soils are formed from similar materials but have an argillic horizon.
DRAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well drained; slow to moderate runoff; very slow permeability.
USE AND VEGETATION: Principal use is for range. Vegetation consists of shortawn needlegrass, squirreltail grass, Sandberg bluegrass, cheatgrass, big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, hopsage, horsebrush and associated forbs.
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Southeastern Oregon. The series is inextensive.
MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California
SERIES PROPOSED: Malheur County, Oregon, 1971. Source of name is Nouque Irrigation Ditch near McDermitt, Oregon. REMARKS: This is an update of the IRD dated 2/71.
NSTH 17, RECLASSIFICATION ONLY, 3/95
REMARKS:
The superactive cation exchange activity class was added in 03/2003 to the taxonomic classification by the National Soil Survey Center on request of the Reno MLRA office, without review of the soil series property data. The remainder of this document has not been updated.